30 years after their comic book debut and several decades since they last ruled the box office, the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ returned this week and proved that they’re as relevant and popular as ever. Although many people wondered if the turtles would have the power to overtake Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ it now seems obvious in retrospect: of course they could.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

$65,000,000

$16,905

$65,000,000

2

Guardians of the Galaxy

$41,531,000 (-56.0)

$10,159

$175,922,000

3

Into the Storm

$18,015,000

$5,246

$18,015,000

4

The Hundred-Foot Journey

$11,123,000

$5,498

$11,123,000

5

Lucy

$9,331,000 (-48.9)

$2,965

$97,354,000

6

Step Up All In

$6,575,000

$3,173

$6,575,000

7

Hercules

$5,700,000 (-48.2)

$1,968

$63,461,000

8

Get On Up

$5,012,000 (-63.1)

$2,030

$22,927,000

9

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

$4,400,000 (-49.4)

$1,908

$197,834,000

10

Plans: Fire and Rescue

$2,419,000 (-60.0)

$1,061

$52,950,000

With a $65 million opening, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ overcame mostly negative reviews by directly appealing to every 10-year old boy in the nation. Although it didn’t open as big as other movies this summer, this is a strong start for a franchise that has had its fair share of ups and downs over the years. As usual, the second weekend is going to be the real decider here, but if those young boys manage to drag their parents back again and again, this movie has a definite shot at $200 million (which seems to be the high watermark number this summer).

The rest of the week’s new releases didn’t fare quite as well. The best of them was ‘Into the Storm,’ which opened with a mediocre $18 million. That’s not a disastrous number, but it’s not a number that promises profitability. If the coming weeks go swimmingly, it may break even. That’s not good.

Then there’s ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey‘ which opened with $11 million. On the outside, this is not a promising start, but this is the kind of movie that appeals directly to older audiences, who tend to come out for new releases at a slower pace than the young ‘uns. This could turn out to be a ‘Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ situation where the film becomes a hit over the course of a long run thanks to audiences above the age of 50. Keep an eye on this one.

And that brings us to ‘Step Up All In,’ which opened in sixth place with only $6 million. The ‘Step Up’ franchise has fluctuated over the years, but this is the first time an entry has arrived dead on arrival. This may signal the end of this entire series, and that’s a bit of a shame.

But let’s take a moment to dwell on the positive. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ may have taken a dip and fallen to second place, but that $41 million second weekend is strong, especially after the film broke weekday records throughout the week. With $175 million in the bank, the film is still on track to become the highest grossing film of 2014 so far (as long as nothing too disastrous happens).

Elsewhere, ‘Lucy‘ found itself within spitting distance of $100 million (where’s that Black Widow movie, Marvel?), ‘Hercules‘ continued dying its slow, painful death, and ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes‘ inched closer to a $200 million domestic total.

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